Lightweight concrete made with expanded clay

Nowadays, society is notoriously concerned about environmental issues. Concrete, as the most widely used construction material in the world, is one of the great villains of the environment due to the large amount of CO2 emitted during the Portland cement production process and the devastation of areas to set up quarries to produce aggregates. To reduce these environmental impacts, various types of concrete have been developed, such as high-performance concrete to reduce the amount of concrete needed to support the same load, as well as lightweight concrete for non-structural use, which aims to reduce the load of various construction elements. The main aggregates used to make lightweight concrete are expanded polystyrene, vermiculite and expanded clay. Clay is a mineral of great abundance, which greatly reduces the impacts caused by the extraction of gravel. The aim of this study was to evaluate the replacement of gravel with expanded clay at levels of 10%, 25% and 50% in concrete. The results showed satisfactory results in terms of reducing the specific mass and mechanical performance.